HEY EVERYONE IM RON BEEM. I HOPE YOU LIKE THE TUNES <3
Los Angeles’ Ron Beem works hard. Like, really hard. When he called me to talk about the interview, he had a lot to say about his acoustic work, his recently disbanded alternative rock band The Heir, and just life in general. Ron began playing guitar at the age of five, on a nylon guitar his dad bought him at Venice Beach. Living in a Chevrolet van for a portion of his life his dad, a guitarist as well as a trumpet and trombone player, started out teaching him and he “was turned off from taking any other kind of formal lessons.” Rather than the standard, cliche' Beatles or Green Day influences that most bands nowadays discuss that influenced them, Ron grew up listening to his dad’s Latin, jazz, and funk music (later influences include Underoath, Boys Like Girls, Anberlin, Lifehouse, “anything passionate” Ron adds) which he says caused him to be made fun of at school. However, Ron persevered through and scored his first gig as a singer in Lovers Make Liars, a pop-alternative band from Ron’s hometown of LA. “This is the first band I was in that really had potential to become something, to make it big,” says Ron. “It was fun while it lasted but as time went by, something was wrong, the feeling wasn’t right and everyone was just really not clicking.” So Ron quit Lovers Make Liars (which later replaced him with Jason, who is just awful, and then the band broke up altogether) and moved on to bigger and better things.
After a brief stint playing guitar with post-hardcore/screamo quintet Jet Engine Fiasco, Ron became the guitarist for pop-punk Graduation Day, along with ex-Everdae singer Joe Sherman and bassist Hector Medina, as well as Ex-Big Time Crush drummer Jimmy, and guitarist Jules. The boys went on their first tour with Reno, Nevada’s female-fronted band Away We Go and From Jupiter, a rock band from Vermont. However fun this may sound, touring is expensive and, as Ron says “a suicide mission when you don’t have money. I’m so sick of ordering from Sonic drive-throughs. But overall, the experience was great. We got to meet so many great people and create amazing memories. One of the best parts however was driving from Reno, Nevada to Salt Lake City, Utah. The views were just beautiful with the snow still on the mountains.”
In the summer of 2009, Ron, Joe, Hector, Jules and new drummer Alex drove all the way from Los Angeles to Ocala, Florida to record with ex-A Day to Remember guitarist Tom Denney. However, “It wasn’t as awesome as it sounds” remembers Ron. “The drive seemed to take forever. And it was in the summer so it was so hot and miserable being stuck in a car with a bunch of people all day. We ended up just being drunk the whole time and surprisingly, only got pulled over once. When we finally reached the Florida border, bumping Taylor Swift and getting really excited, I got pulled over for speeding. Then we arrived at this hotel that was just awful. There was even some Cuban prostitute who looked like Shakira got hit by lightning. And I remember she wore the same yellow dress everyday for like, a week. Getting drunk and prostitutes aside, the recording process was way too sped up and unplanned. Tom Denney was nice and helpful and all but the band and I just really didn’t get a ton accomplished in the short amount of time. The chemistry in the band just got really bad so after I got home, I left the band.”
Now, Ron is busy recording as a studio musician in Beverly Hills with a company called B Star Productions where he writes concept guitar parts for young local talent. “I’m happy just writing songs and hanging out I guess,” Ron says. “Music is just the only thing that’s ever made sense to me. All I really want to do is write music for the rest of my life. I know some people may not like that, but I really just don’t care. People just spend too much time trying to be ‘somebody’ and to fabricate themselves and setting a specific agenda that they completely forget to just live life and be who they really are. I’m no hot shot, no rock star, nothing like that. I’m just doing what I love and not letting anyone or anything get in my way. I mean, we only live once, why deny yourself happiness, you know?”
- OLIVIA GLYNN - SANTA BARBARA CITY COLLEGE
